BARF diet calculator for cats — getting started with meatpoint.io
In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of creating your first recipe. Before we get down to business, there are a few important steps you need to follow. Let’s get started! 🚀
How do you use our BARF diet calculator for cats? Go to meatpoint.io and create an account. Once you’ve registered, an activation link will be sent to your email address. Once your account has been verified, you’re ready to go. :)
Step 1️⃣ — create a profile for your cat
Create a profile for your cat and enter its current weight. If your cat is overweight or underweight, do not enter a target weight — just enter your cat’s current weight. If you have more than one cat, create a separate profile for each one. Two cats weighing 3 kilograms each have different nutritional needs to a single cat weighing 6 kilograms.
Step 2️⃣ — choose the calorie content of your cat’s BARF diet
The second important factor is choosing the calorie content of the mix. We distinguish between different standards for kittens, adult cats and cats in breeding, as the nutritional requirements for these groups vary. For example, kittens need significantly more calcium and phosphorus whilst their bones are growing than an adult cat does.
You can prepare mixed meals for your cats, provided they all fall under the same nutritional standards. For instance, if you run a cattery, you can prepare a mixed meal for kittens and nursing or pregnant queens. For adult cats, you can prepare a mixed meal provided they are all in the same energy class.
✨ Cat Diet Planner
Use our Cat Diet Planner, which will select the calorie content (‘Energy Class’) and default diet settings based on basic information about your cat’s age, weight, condition and previous diet. You can skip the remaining sections on calorie content unless you need to know more right now.
😸 Calorie content of a BARF diet for a young cat
If you have a young kitten, start by selecting the average calorie content appropriate for your cat’s age. If the portion proves too small and your cat eats more than calculated, choose the high calorie content for that age group. For kittens, energy classes are used solely to estimate meal size. Read more about this in the article on feeding kittens.
🐱 Calorie content of the BARF diet for adult cats
If you have an adult cat, we also recommend starting with a low/medium calorie content, even if your cat is overweight or underweight. For the first month, monitor how much your cat eats and how its weight changes. If your cat’s weight is at the right level but the portion is too small, you can increase the calorie content and monitor whether your cat gains weight. If your cat’s weight is right but the portion is too large, it’s worth reducing the calorie content.
🙀 Calorie content of a BARF diet for an overweight cat
If you want to help your cat lose weight, and the cat isn’t losing weight after switching to a medium-calorie mix, first reduce the calorie content to a low level, and only after a further monitoring period reduce it to an even lower level, until the desired result is achieved. Once the cat has reached a healthy weight, monitor whether it continues to lose weight; if so, increase the calorie content slightly and monitor the weight again.
It is important not to choose a medium-calorie diet and not to reduce the portion size, as a cat eating an incomplete portion will also receive fewer micro- and macronutrients than required. Choosing a lower calorie diet will ensure that the current portion contains sufficient supplements to prevent deficiencies. For example, bone meal is included in recipes for kittens because they are growing rapidly. This source of phosphorus is rarely found in recipes for adult cats with medium or high calorie content, as there is sufficient phosphorus in the meat the cat eats. At the same time, for adult cats where we are restricting calorie intake (and consequently the portion size and amount of meat they eat), it may turn out that there is too little phosphorus and it needs to be supplemented.
How can you tell if the portion is too small or too large? Cats eat several times a day, so simply check whether the mixture you’ve prepared for X days actually lasts for the intended period. Of course, keep an eye on whether your cat is gaining or losing weight, and whether they enjoy the food.
You’ve got a new cat – what next? It’s time to put together your own set of supplements.
Step 3️⃣ — choose supplements for your cat on a BARF diet.
In the “Suppls” tab, you can create your own supplement sets, so you don’t have to remember which range you bought later on, or add each one manually every time you recalculate. It’s important to check that you’ve selected exactly the same supplement you have at home. A good example is Pokusa algae, which have very different iodine content depending on the range.
Supplements are divided into essential ones (see the Facebook post describing mandatory supplements), conditional ones (needed for some cats) and additional ones (entirely optional).
To start with, choose supplements from the following categories:
- Calcium
- Sodium
- Vitamin E
- Omega-3 fatty acids
- Vitamins B
- Iodine
- Taurine (optional, but essential for cats)
Now for the contidional supplements:
- Iron
- Phosphorus (optional, but likely to be essential if you have a young kitten or an adult cat that eats small portions, or if you plan to put them on a weight-loss diet)
- Vitamin D
💊 Optional supplements for cats on a BARF diet
The first of the optional supplements is egg yolks (as a ‘multivitamin’). Egg yolks provide many amino acids, including biotin, which has a beneficial effect on your pet’s skin, coat and claws. However, if your cat is allergic to chicken and it is difficult to find eggs other than chicken eggs, you can leave them out.
Another optional supplement is vitamin D, e.g. cod liver oil. In most cases, the meat already contains sufficient vitamin D and the mixture does not require supplementation. You can use cod liver oil to improve coat quality, but more on this in the advanced guide on meatpoint.io.
Supplements containing copper, magnesium, zinc, selenium and manganese are also optional; you can introduce them at a later stage or based on your cat’s test results.
How can I be sure which supplements I’ll need? A full set of supplements is a significant expense, so it’s worth spending fifteen to twenty minutes checking. To do this, add all your cats, put together your set based on the above guidelines, and run through a few to a dozen recipes, checking whether any of the supplements you’ve chosen are missing from the recipe. Any supplement you don’t need will appear on the ingredients list, with a note stating that the nutritional balance has been provided by meat instead of the supplement’s weight. This way, you can check which supplements you’ll need to create your mix before you sign up for a meatpoint.io subscription.
Your basket of supplements is ready – time to move on to the calculator. You can practise this at home or head straight to the shop.
Step 4️⃣ — use the BARF diet calculator for cats
- Start by selecting the number of days for which you want to prepare the mix. If your cat has tried the BARF diet in the past, start with a period that suits you. If you’re just switching your cat to BARF, we recommend starting with weekly recipes so you can gradually get to know your cat’s preferences and tailor the mix to their needs.
- Now select your set of supplements and your cat. If you have more than one cat, you can create a recipe for more than one cat at a time, but only provided they are in the same calorie group. This means you can choose two young kittens in the same age range or two adult cats with an average calorie requirement. However, you cannot create a mix with parameters suited to both a growing cat and an adult cat at the same time. Similarly, it is not possible to create a single recipe for a very active cat and a cat that is on a weight-loss diet, as they require different amounts of supplements per serving.
Is that clear? In that case, let’s move on to the meats. - The calculator requires us to select a liver (which, in BARF, serves as a source of vitamin A and is not included in the offal weight), two offal items (which can be the same twice), and two meats.
Selecting the first meat limits the choice of meats available in the second option. For example, if you choose chicken breast, you will only be able to select fatty meats as your second choice, and vice versa – if you choose a fatty meat, only leaner meats will appear in the second selection.
It is not possible to select two lean meats or two fatty meats in this step, as the calculator needs to be able to balance the protein and fat from the available meats. How do you create a mix of two lean meats? Read the article on advanced use of the meatpoint.io calculator. - Then click ‘Calculate’. You can do this on your phone at the shop counter, after checking what’s on offer today. Select the days, the quantity of offal, the list of supplements, the cats, choose the meats available at the counter and confirm.
This recipe is ready to use, you can save it so you can refer to it at home once you’ve finished your shopping.
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